Past, present, and future: St. Sophia Ukrainian Catholic Church celebrates 25 years
Hundreds of parishioners gathered at St. Sophia Ukrainian Catholic Church on Nov. 2, 2025 for the Divine Liturgy and 25th anniversary of the parish. Bishop Venedykt of the St. Nicholas Eparchy celebrated the Divine Liturgy alongside pastors who formerly shepherded the parish, which sits in the boundaries of the Diocese of Fort Worth. (NTC/Juan Guajardo)
THE COLONY — So much to pack into a small church.
First, the people. About 180 parishioners filled St. Sophia Ukrainian Catholic Church in The Colony on Nov. 2, packing the pews in the 110-seat church and overflowing into the parish’s social hall.
Then, the clergy. At the sanctuary, the Most Reverend Venedykt (Aleksiychuk), bishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Chicago presided, as well as two priests who formerly served the parish who made a special visit for the parish’s 25th anniversary celebration. The current priests, Father Kostiantyn Popov and Father Frank Avant concelebrated, accompanied by the parish’s deacon and altar servers.
Finally, the holy space overflowed with the beauty and tradition of the music, the icons, incense, and the spirituality of the divine liturgy.
The Present
Before the Holy Mass began, about a dozen children dressed in traditional embroidered dresses or shirts greeted Bishop Venedykt with flowers and a traditional loaf of Ukrainian bread.
The choir led the congregation with responses in Ukrainian and English. A helpful booklet provided translations for those who speak no Ukrainian, which included five seminarians from the Diocese of Fort Worth seated in the first pew.
Jeffrey Ambreit, a Fort Worth seminarian serving a pastoral year at All Saints Church in Fort Worth, said celebrating the “beautiful liturgy” with Bishop Venedykt was a blessing — “just being able to be part of their celebration, experiencing our communities working together, and seeing that diversity.”
After the Epistle and Gospel were chanted in English, Bishop Venedykt addressed the congregation in his homily, which focused on growing in holiness each day.
He said, “In English, they say ‘past is history; future is mystery.’ Present time is the most important time in my life, but so often it's difficult for me to accept this present time, because it's difficult, hard.
“You ask God why it’s painful or difficult. God gives everything for one reason: for our sanctification,” he continued, pointing out that when we grow in holiness, it not only helps us but also our family and our community.
Afterwards, the parish hosted a sold-out banquet at nearby Holy Cross Catholic Church. The 250 in attendance enjoyed a traditional Ukrainian musical performance, dancing, and food, as well as speeches from each of the parish’s priests and the bishop.
The past
Richard Bogdon was baptized and confirmed in the Ukrainian rite shortly after he was born in Pittsburgh. Worshiping with the traditions and sacred rituals of the church of his Ukrainian grandparents helped unite the family in the customs and language of their culture.
As an adult, his career took him to North Texas where there was no Ukrainian Catholic Church, and he began attending a Roman Catholic Church in Plano.
More than 25 years ago, Bogdon and several others with ties to the Ukrainian Catholic Church, approached the bishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Chicago, which governs the Midwest and Western states, and asked about establishing a parish in North Texas.
At the beginning, a Ukrainian priest from Houston visited monthly to celebrate the divine liturgy as the group looked for a suitable site.
One of those parish founders was Father Deacon John Novocilsky Jr., who drove the bishop to look at potential church properties. Ordained in 2007, he serves at St. Sophia.
In 2000, a former Baptist church in The Colony was purchased and renovated, building an iconostasis to separate the nave from the sanctuary. Custom icons were painted by a Pennsylvania artist.
Because the facility had more space than the fledgling congregation needed, the excess space was leased to a charter school and a day care center to help with expenses.
The future
When Father Pavlo Popov became the parish administrator in 2011, about 40 parishioners attended Holy Mass on Sundays. This August, when he left to serve at a Chicago-area parish, that number had grown to about 125, with as many as 300 attending Holy Mass on Easter or Christmas.
Fr. Pavlo Popov said the congregation also includes some parishioners without Ukrainian ties, who feel drawn by the closeknit community and the spirituality of the worship.
The church attracts parishioners from across the Metroplex, said Father Kostiantyn Popov, who was ordained a priest in 2024 and is Fr. Pavlo Popov’s brother. Fr. Kostiantyn now serves as administrator for the parish.
But even as the parish celebrated its 25-year anniversary, Bogdon, who helped start the parish, is preparing for the future. “We want to build a new church, so this will be a steppingstone to what we can do going forward,” he said.
Planning is in the earliest stages to build another church on the same site, which would double the seating, provide a choir loft, and feature a dome typical of Byzantine churches.
Despite being more than 6,000 miles from Ukraine, the Ukrainian Catholic Church has a home in North Texas.
Fr. Pavlo Popov explained, “We need the beauty, we need the richness of the tradition, the East, to have that universality. Having St. Sophia creates an amazing opportunity for all the Catholics to come and visit, to experience and realize that the universal Catholic Church is much more than what we imagine.”
The richness of tradition, however, is not the church’s strongest asset, Fr. Pavlo Popov continued. “Most importantly, without the Holy Spirit, without the divine inspiration and guidance of the Holy Spirit, it would not have survived for 2000 years.”
Hundreds of parishioners gathered at St. Sophia Ukrainian Catholic Church on Nov. 2, 2025 for the Divine Liturgy and 25th anniversary of the parish. (NTC/Juan Guajardo)